Mutual destruction

Chapter 116

With a horrified expression on his face, Shin Jiao looks at the figure standing calmly in the middle of the receding dust cloud. The middle-aged man's expression is full of confidence and pride. Now that he has caught up with his prey, the man is sure that everything is now within his control. He can get the legacy and his revenge at the ant that almost ruined everything he has worked hard for many years.

Seeing the expression on Shin Jiao's face, the man felt elated and showed a smug look on his face. But he immediately calms himself down as he didn't know what Shin Jiao might do if truly cornered. So he calmly walks forward out of the small crater from the ground.

"You truly are very slippery. I didn't expect that you're this strong young man. You have caused me a lot of trouble, and I assure you that you will pay for it." Ding Gushan calmly said as he walks towards Shin Jiao.

"I never ask for any of this, you are the one who started this and you blame me for defending myself. You can only blame yourselves for being too greedy. No matter what, at the end of the day your greed is still your own undoing." Shin Jiao sneered as he tried to calm himself and immediately took a fighting stance.

He didn't want to underestimate his opponent, as the man in front of him is 2 tiers higher in cultivation than him. Though Shin Jiao has experienced facing these kinds of cultivators and he knows that they like to play with their weak prey as a way of looking down on their opponents. But of course, he needed to prepare himself in this fight as his life right now is on the line.

"Haha… well said. But still, you will lose your life in here no matter what you say." The man said as he waved his hand and a gale of wind suddenly appear and hit Shin Jiao without warning.

Shin Jiao's figure was thrown tumbling a few meters on the ground, luckily his agility and dexterity are good that he was able to twist his body mid-air and land on his feet. This time it was Ding Gushan showed a surprised expression. He didn't expect that the weak young man could still stand after being thrown by his wind attack. Upon seeing this, Ding Gushan followed up by forcefully stumping to the ground where shockwave and spikes suddenly appear bursting out.

These casual moves contain 20% of his strength as an infant soul cultivator. This is usually more than enough to defeat a primary stage gold core realm cultivator. So this is already an overkill in his part.

As the ground spikes bursts from the ground running towards Shin Jiao, a sneer appeared on Ding Gushan's face.

Shin Jiao found himself unable to determine the path of the thorny ground fissure. He discovers that wherever he moves the incoming fissure would follow after him. Plus the ground itself is shaking which is affecting his movements thoroughly. Without a choice, Shin Jiao decided to jump high up as this is the only way to dodge the thorny ground fissure. Shin Jiao also knows that this is a trap, set by his opponent. But still, he gritted his teeth and helplessly jump.

"I know that you are a slippery little loach, but now I got you." Ding Gushan muttered as he immediately sent a couple of wind blades towards Shin Jiao's who is currently on the air.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

As the wind blades flew towards Shin Jiao a sinister smile suddenly was displayed on Ding Gushan's mouth. An expectation of a mangled body and a bloody mess is on his mind, as he can already see the result of the foolish action of the young man. Though he can feel that Shin Jiao's battle prowess is admirable, but as a stronger being, he is not inclined to appreciate a lowly opponent like Shin Jiao. 

But before he can think further he saw something incredulous, his target actually moved his body while mid-air and evaded the wind blades one-by-one by twisting his body in weird angles. He didn't expect something like this would happen because if it were him, he could not have done the same thing. He would just put up a strong defensive stance and block those wind blades.

While still stupefied looking at the young man's weird action, something flashed.

All of a sudden in the middle of Shin Jiao's dodging he flashes a simple and crude looking dagger towards Ding Gushan. The dagger suddenly flew out of Shin Jiao's hand at lightning speed. It didn't take a second for it to immediately arrive in front of Ding Gushan who was too late to actually notice it.

But before the dagger could pierce the head of Ding Gushan it was stopped by a thin layer of Qi. It was a Qi field of an infant soul forming realm cultivator. This thin layer of Qi is far stronger than that of a gold core realm expert by a hundred times. Infant soul realm cultivators are the peak of being a half-mortal half-immortal being. They are in the boundary of almost receiving an immortal body in which is that of the nascent realm. Once they reached the nascent realm it is the beginning or birth of their immortal bodies.

So even though Ding Gushan is only a primary-stage infant soul realm cultivator, he already possesses both a strong body and Qi field.

Shin Jiao's dagger was then rendered ineffective as it fell on the ground. Upon seeing this, the eyes of Ding Gushan went wide in disbelief, although he is currently underestimating his opponent, luckily he didn't neglect his own safety. Because he is a shrewd and a crafty man he would always have backup plans to protect himself in case everything would go sour. Luckily he did, or else he would already have a hole in his head.

What made his astonished is the speed that the dagger was flung towards him. He didn't expect it to fly so fast that even with his spiritual sense currently active he still wasn't able to detect it before the dagger is already inches away from his face. What baffled him the most is that he discovers a crack on his Qi field where the dagger has struck.

Upon discovering this, he didn't want to put down his vigilance towards his opponent. Thought the young man's cultivation is low, the technique he is using gives out a stronger force not that of his level.

When Shin Jiao landed on the ground his gaze didn't leave Ding Gushan's figure.

"Good, good… you truly are a talent. Then let me see you dodge this." Ding Gushan said as he formed Qi energy within his palm.

Then the energy within the area suddenly gathered within his body, making everything feel chaotic. Shin Jiao even feel his body involuntarily shiver; it was as if an eerie atmosphere was created. He knows that Ding Gushan is now getting serious about this fight.

Upon seeing the gathering of energy, Shin Jiao didn't hesitate to take out a couple of jades with rune carvings on them. Then he also took out a small piece of folded paper. With a wave of his hand, an invisible force shield suddenly formed in front of Shin Jiao. The force shield became thicker and thicker as the energy within the jades were used.

But before the force shield could become thicker, Ding Gushan suddenly released the energy he has gathered on his palm. He did this because he saw what Shin Jiao did, taking out things on his pouch. He has a hunch that the young man is going to attack him first, so before the young man could act he didn't wait for the Qi energy to be gathered in full and decided to release it for a preemptive strike.

A thick yellow light suddenly burst forth from the energy ball on Ding Gushan's palm which is now facing Shin Jiao. The light beam flew in a straight line disintegrating everything it passes by. Even the ground formed red molten layers as the beam flew by.

Upon seeing this Shin Jiao gritted his teeth and braces himself for impact. The area of the beam covers is far too wide for him to dodge. He knows that if he would try to jump out of its way, even if he uses the shadow steps, he would not escape the light beam. He may be able to preserve his life but it would cost him his feet or even half of his body, which would still be his doom.

Bzzzt!!! Boom!!!

A loud explosion echoed through the Dark Forest which jolted a lot of demon beasts. But they didn't dare approach the area because they can feel a strong surge of aura belonging to a human cultivator.

Now, almost around a hundred of meters wide crater was formed from where Shin Jiao stood. When Ding Gushan saw this he was a little taken aback as he didn't expect that a strong force would counter his light beam and produces an explosion.

Actually the light beam which he created is just a strong force that would push Shin Jiao back and burn him. It is not supposed to be strong enough to create such a huge explosion.

So upon seeing the devastation he was a little taken aback.

He then immediately scanned the dust cloud covered area for the figure of Shin Jiao. And there he saw from afar a bloodied figure embedded on a thick tree.

"What a stupid little runt. He thinks that he can defend against that blast and instead created his own demise." Ding Gushan sneered while looking at Shin Jiao's figure.

He then leisurely walks towards Shin Jiao's figure and enter the dust cloud. He didn't need to see Shin Jiao with his eyes as he can already see him with his spiritual sense. As he approaches, he noticed that Shin Jiao is already moving. The young man slowly moved his fingers followed by his arms and then his body which is already riddled with wounds.

"Ehh..! Still able to move huh… that's good at least I don't have to waste too much of my energy to read your mind then." Ding Gushan muttered.

Mind reading or memory extraction is a unique ability of a certain cultivator to see what's inside a person's memory; however, this is not an easy skill to do. A cultivator should have a certain understanding of a person's mind and is able to locate a certain spot of a person's brain. This is a very hard thing to do as with just a single mistake, the memory would disappear and one's effort would be for naught. This skill needs a long time for a cultivator to develop. And to become an expert it needs many sacrifices.

Ding Gushan was able to learn this skill to mid-level because of the resources he got from the Nian clan and the human sacrifice his underlings in the underworld he made provides for him to practice on.

Now he is excited to extract rich knowledge from his target's mind and didn't care whether the young man survives or not, as his only goal is the legacy.

Ding Gushan's figure swiftly appears in front of Shin Jiao. Then he leisurely lifted his hand and grabs Shin Jiao's neck.

"Now that I got you, let me see how you can escape my grasp." Ding Gushan sneered as he held Shin Jiao's neck firmly in his hand.

The feeling of having his target within the palm of his hand made Ding Gushan happy as excitement can be seen on his face.

"Boy, tell me where is the legacy that you have obtained? I know you have one so don't bother to deny it. If you don't tell me I will use my ability to extract your memory and that would not be favorable for you." Ding Gushan said as he threatens Shin Jiao.

He wouldn't casually use his skill as he suddenly noticed that Shin Jiao still has a will to fight against him.

Shin Jiao just stares at Ding Gushan with curiosity in his face. This made the middle-aged man frowned. From the looks of Shin Jiao's body, he seems to be weak and already frail, but something is amiss. But he didn't mind it as his guard was down when he saw that Shin Jiao is already heavily wounded to a degree where he is unable to stand up anymore.

But now that he observed closer, he suddenly felt a sudden dangerous premonition. Before he knew it he suddenly felt that something is amiss with his body. He felt that his cultivation is in chaos and that he could not control the flow of the Qi within his body. And then, he found his strength gradually receding leaving him stupefied. Then a sudden thought came to his mind.

"Did he just use a suppression powder on me?"

When Shin Jiao saw the reaction of Ding Gushan he knew that his plan was successful. He has successfully suppressed the cultivation of Ding Gushan by using a suppression powder. This same powder is the one that was used on him by one of Scarface Fey's men. He has gotten his hand on one of this powder just in case of emergency, and in his dire state, he used it.

"You're crazy, both of our cultivation is now gone. Do you still think you can escape me? I will deal with you before I lost my Qi!" Ding Gushan shouted as his finger suddenly glows.

With all his might he threw Shin Jiao in the air and attacked him with both hands. Thought his strength is almost gone, he still has time to use his ability to attack Shin Jiao's consciousness. At the same time, a short blade sneakily appears on one of his hands as he also sent it towards Shin Jiao.

"Die!" Ding Gushan shouted with his eyes turning red.

He didn't expect to have fallen into a trap by a worthless little worm. This is due to his carelessness and anxiousness to get the treasure, he didn't notice that within the smoke caused by his attack mixed the suppression powder. This powder could not be seen anywhere as it is an illegal item. Only he and some of his subordinates have them as they accidentally obtain it from robbing someone. So while he has his cultivation he needs to end everything. 

Now with this move, he is sure that he can kill the trash and at the same time take everything from him.

Shin Jiao, on the other hand, was surprised as he didn't expect that his opponent still has the strength to toss him in the air. But right at this moment, he feels calm and collected, right now he is just waiting for the cultivation of Ding Gushan to go down to a level where he can use his gun to finish him once and for all. Though his situation is a little precarious yet his heart is calm as he closes his eyes.

Upon seeing this Ding Gushan felt elated as it seems that his opponent has already given up in struggling. Not that the young man has a chance to live after this, he is sure that with this move he is the winner. When the blade and the finger of Ding Gushan neared Shin Jiao, the young man suddenly opens his eyes, and then two silver flashes suddenly appear.

The two figures now found themselves facing each other, one has the look of astonishment and disbelief while the other showed pain and disorientation.

As the two fell on the ground everything is unclear on who won and who lost as both their consciousness slowly faded to darkness.